Leemire Goldwire scored 21 in the match-up. |
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Charlotte Tops Duquesne, 89-82
March 2, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Leemire Goldwire scored 21 points as Charlotte held off a second-half rally to beat Duquesne 89-82 in an Atlantic 10 game Sunday.
Lamont Mack had 19 points, Charlie Coley 16 and Ian Andersen 13 for the 49ers (16-12, 7-7), who won their second straight at home.
Reggie Jackson scored 17 points, Kojo Mensah and Bill Clark had 14 each and Gary Tucker 10 for the Dukes (16-11, 6-8), who lost their fourth consecutive game.
Charlotte led by as many as 12 points in the second half, the last at 65-53 on two Phil Jones free throws with 10:06 left, but Duquesne whittled the 49ers lead down to 82-80 on Jackson's 3-pointer with 1:39 remaining.
Mack then followed a missed dunk with a layup to push Charlotte's lead back to four points, and the 49ers closed out the game by hitting 5-of-8 from the free throw line over the final minute.
The Dukes struggled to find their shot in the first half, hitting just 5-of-19 from the field in the first 13 minutes. That helped Charlotte bolt to a 12-point lead, going up 25-13 on a Coley dunk with 7:07 remaining.
But Duquesne found its range in the closing minutes of the half, hitting 7-of-8 - including 3-for-3 on 3-pointers - during a 15-2 run to pull back into contention. Tucker's 3-pointer with 4:09 left put the Dukes up 28-27, their first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
The sides then swapped the lead three times and tied the score twice before Goldwire hit a pair of free throws with 44.3 seconds left to give the 49ers a 36-34 lead at the break.
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NOTES (Supplied by Charlotte 49ers Sports Information):
Goldwire's 21-point effort was his 12th game with 20-or-more points this year and the 27th game with 20 or more in his career.
Ian Andersen's 13 points mark the first A-10 game in which the sophomore has hit double figures, this year.
Phil Jones matched his career-high with nine points, including a pair of dunks.
Charlie Coley had five dunks, including one on an alley-oop pass from three-quarters court from Michael Gerrity. Gerrity finished with seven assists.
Lamont Mack scored in double figures for the 14th time in the last 16 games. Mack has scored 15 or more points in each of the last five games.
Goldwire added five steals to his league-leading total. He now has 58 thefts, this season.
Charlotte hosts George Washington, Thursday at 8:00 p.m. at Halton Arena.
